Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/student-centered-teaching/5023154/
Teaching is Teaching
Whether it is teaching adults, middle schoolers, or preschoolers, teaching is teaching.
In the purest sense, there are key foundations of teaching that have nothing to do with age: knowledge, content, methods, checking for understanding, and the one I think is paramount — knowing those you teach.
When I say “knowing those you teach,” I am speaking about the many facets of that phrase. First, it helps to know the human, the individual human, that you are going to teach. Second, it is important to understand the basic capabilities, how they best learn, and what they may know about what you want them to learn. Of course, this type of knowing is not a one-time event, it is an ongoing relationship.
Student-centered learning starts with student-centered teaching, which starts with the teacher. Yes, in order to best meet the needs of individual students and groups of students, we must first start with the teacher.
I could certainly use the rest of this space to talk about teacher training, teacher development programs, and ongoing professional development. I will take that very important opportunity at a later date.
Meantime, I would like to discuss the actions, dispositions, and approaches that teachers must have in their skillset ...